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Ong Jemel outcrop

OVERVIEW

Site: Ong Jemel outcrop area

GPS: 34.015937, 7.912498

Location: Chott el-Gharsa salt flats, Tozeur Governorate, southwest Tunisia

Description: Meteorized rock zooform (Neogene Period)

Star Wars film:
Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999)

Set construction start: Early August 1997

Production: Early August 1997

Star Wars locations | Film sets:
Mos Espa podrace circuit | Canyon Dune Turn
Mospic High Range | Sith landing desert mesa

Lead on set:
Ray Park / Darth Maul

Scenes:
84 [Darth Maul lands on desert mesa at dusk] Filmed: 5 August 1997
108 [Darth Maul follows probe droid to Mos Espa] Filmed: 5 August 1997
Final cut: 2
Deleted: 0

Sequences:
Tusken Raider sniper point #4 (podrace / lap 1)
Jawas scavenge at crash site (podrace / lap 2) <deleted>
Final cut: 1
Deleted: 1

Highway: Lucasfilm reused the hard-packed sand/salt “Saul Zaentz Imperial Highway” created during production for The English Patient (1996) to travel between the Tozeur airport and the Ong Jemel area, renaming the route as the “JAK Highway.”

Camel: No images of the north/northwest side of the outcrop—the best vantage point from which to view the formations loosely resembling the “camel’s neck” namesake of the zooform—appear in the film.

Mesa: All filming activity featuring Ray Park at this site was staged on the mesa directly south of the Ong Jemel outcrop.

Snipers: Tusken Raider extras were filmed on both the Ong Jemel outcrop and the mesa south of the outcrop for podrace sniper action.

Reconnaissance: Written in the screenplay as six Sith probe droids sent out in pairs to three different cities, the final cut limits the scope of Darth Maul’s reconnaissance to two cities (Mos Entha & Mos Espa) with only three CGI probe droids.

Viewfinder: The baseline background footage (with some CGI geographic embellishment) in Darth Maul’s electrobinocular viewfinder for the two CGI cities resembles Chott el-Gharsa, specifically the salt flats area surrounding the ridge line located some 600 meters west of the Ong Jemel outcrop.

Vanity Fair: Episode I promotional photoshoot (led by Annie Liebovitz) on 1 August 1997 staged Liam Neeson and Jake Lloyd on the mesa south of the Ong Jemel outcrop (with the “camel’s neck” visible), conflating images of Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin Skywalker in a setting used only for Darth Maul, Tusken Raiders, and Jawas in the film.

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Maguer Gorge

OVERVIEW

Site: Maguer Gorge

GPS: 34.036182, 8.280345

Location: Jebel Sidi Bouhlel, Dghoumès National Park, Tozeur Governorate, southwest Tunisia

Description: Geological formation (Campanian Age)

Star Wars films:
Episode IV — A New Hope (1977)
Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999)

Set construction start: 26 March 1976 / n/a

Production: 26, 28-31 March, ~5 April 1976 / ~25 July 1997 

Star Wars locations | Film sets:
Jundland Wastes | rock mesa canyon
Mos Espa podrace circuit | Canyon Dune Turn
Sluuce Canyon | desert wasteland bluff

Leads on set: Episode IV
Alec Guinness / Obi-Wan Kenobi
Mark Hamill / Luke Skywalker
Anthony Daniels / See Threepio (C-3PO)
Kenny Baker / Artoo Detoo (R2-D2)
Jack Purvis / head Jawa (Legends: Dathcha)
Peter Diamond (stunt supervisor) / Tusken Raider

Scenes: Episode IV
17 [Jawas neutralize R2-D2] — Filmed: 30 March 1976
18 [Jawas carry R2-D2 to sandcrawler] — Filmed: 30 March 1976
35 [Tusken Raiders spot Luke in landspeeder] — Filmed: 29 March 1976
37 [Luke and C-3PO find R2-D2] — Filmed: 26 March 1976
38 [Luke attacked by Tusken Raiders] — Filmed: 26, 29 March 1976
39 [Arrival of Ben Kenobi in canyon] — Filmed: 28-29 March 1976
40 [Luke finds injured C-3PO] — Filmed: 28 March 1976
B42 [Luke and Ben discover killed Jawas] — Filmed: 31 March 1976
E42 [Jawa bonfire] — Filmed: 31 March 1976
47 [View of Mos Eisley, “wretched hive of scum and villainy”] — Filmed: 29 March 1976
Final cut: 10
Deleted: 0

Back-projection: Episode IV 
Scene 34 [Luke spots fugitive R2-D2] <90% deleted> — Filmed: ~5 April 1976
Final cut: 0
Deleted: 1

Sequences: Episode I
Tusken Raider sniper point #1 (podrace / lap 1) — Filmed: ~25 July 1997
Tusken Raider sniper point #2 (podrace / lap 1 and lap 2) <lap 2 deleted> — Filmed: ~25 July 1997
Tusken Raider sniper point #3 (podrace / lap 1) — Filmed: ~25 July 1997
Tusken Raider sniper point #6 (podrace / lap 2 ) — Filmed: ~25 July 1997
Tusken Raider sniper point #7 and #8 (podrace / lap 2) <deleted> — Filmed: ~25 July 1997
Tusken Raider sniper point #9 and #10 (podrace / lap 2) <deleted> — Filmed: ~25 July 1997
Final cut: 4
Deleted: 3

Indiana Jones film:
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Production: 10 September 1980

Indiana Jones location | Film set:
Greek island | Geheimhaven canyon

Leads on set: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Harrison Ford / Indiana Jones
Karen Allen / Marion Ravenwood
Paul Freeman / René Emile Belloq
Wolf Kahler / Colonel Herman Dietrich
Ronald Lacey / SS-Major Arnold Ernst Toht

Scene: Raiders of the Lost Ark
144 [Indy tracks Nazi procession, threatens ark with bazooka] — Filmed: 10 September 1980
Final cut: 1
Deleted: 0

Nickname: Popularly known as “Star Wars Canyon” due to its prolific use by Lucasfilm crews.

Aerial footage: Only Star Wars film site in Tunisia filmed from an aircraft as part of production. 

Canon language: Arabic text graffiti appears in Episode IV on the canyon wall behind the parked landspeeder, inadvertently distinguishing Arabic as the first written text presented on fictional Tatooine.

Wrap: Final film site for Episode IV principal photography in Tunisia (2nd unit). 

Mos Eisley overlook: In place of the raw footage filmed from the summit overlooking the canyon, a matte painting by Harrison Ellenshaw (February/March 1977) depicting the vantage point from Dante’s View (Death Valley, California, USA) was used to frame the iconic Mos Eisley overlook visual featured in the final cut.

Historic: First Star Wars prequels filming location in Tunisia.

Record: Only film site in Tunisia repurposed for three geographically distinct Star Wars locations on fictional Tatooine.

Television: Only film site in Tunisia to appear in a Star Wars franchise live-action series (The Mandalorian), featured as purchased third-party footage. 

Shared space: Indiana Jones filming areas overlap with the Star Wars footprint in the canyon, geographically pairing (1) the ark procession with C-3PO’s post-Tusken attack recovery location, R2-D2’s alcove hideout, Luke’s landspeeder, Obi-Wan’s “Hello There!” introduction to Luke, and Tusken Raider podrace sniper point #1 as well as (2) Indy’s bazooka position with the Tusken Raider ambush boulders and Obi-Wan’s appearance point.

Cinematic overlap: Beyond the three Lucasfilm movies, canyon interior featured in three additional full-length films: The Little Prince (1974), The English Patient (1996), and Bent Keltoum (2001).